Self-reflection is something that everyone should engage in from time to time. Now that the school year has wound down to a close, we at The Chronicle would like to leave our readers with some of the things we have learned and some that we hope you will learn.
? Some people will never learn the difference between an article and a letter to the editor.
Although it pains us to say it yet again, a letter to the editor is a reader’s opinion. Not ours.
? Some people will never accept the fact that we have a policy to publish all letters, in some form or another.
Get over it-everyone has a right to freedom of speech, and it isn’t our fault that people like Kellen Wilson take advantage of our public forum more than you do. You want people like Kellen Wilson to stop getting published? Write some more yourself.
? A columnist’s 500-word opinion is not enough to make a judgment call about his or her morals or personality.
Some readers insist on passing moral judgment on our writers, assuming that after reading someone’s work, they know him or her as well as his or her friends do. This leads to letters to the editor telling Patrick Muir that he is going to hell-since naturally reading one column is enough to plumb the depths of someone’s soul.
? Some people will always assume we have a personal agenda-even when we don’t.
Even when a reporter does his or her best to only report facts, some people will always find some imagined bias in an article.
Fact: If you messed up and we reported on it, it does not mean we are biased against you. It doesn’t mean we dislike you. It doesn’t mean we are out to get you. It only means you messed up. If you didn’t really mess up, tell us, and we’ll run a correction-but only if you really, really didn’t mess up. We don’t run corrections just because you’re a nice person.
? Not everyone understands satire.
‘Nuff said.
? Some people will never grasp the difference between the News Section and the Opinion Section.
News reports facts. Opinion comments on those facts. If you find “bias” in the Opinion Page, congratulations-you were supposed to.
? Even when we try our best, something will go wrong-and we have to do our best from that point on to salvage the situation.
That’s life, isn’t it? None of us is perfect, even though some of us pretend to be. When we make mistakes, we try to correct them. When we don’t realize we’ve made mistakes, we ask you to tell us about them.
We’ve probably learned more than that, but let’s be honest-we’re tired, and so are you. So good luck on finals, and go Utes!